The invention relates to the technical sector of surgical apparatuses introduced into the human body to treat morbid obesity.
For many years surgical techniques have been developed to treat morbid obesity.
These techniques include introducing an intragastric balloon into the stomach which rapidly creates an impression of satiety during food intake, bypassing virtually all the intestine using an anastomosis between the jejunum and ileum, and the biliopancreatic bypass, but the techniques were rapidly abandoned as they proved ineffective over time and were the sources of many complications.
Efforts were then directed towards surgery for gastric restriction, i.e. creating a small cavity in the proximal section of the stomach which communicates with the rest of the stomach via a calibrated orifice. According to this technique, when the patient swallows food the small cavity quickly fills and creates an impression of satiety forcing the patient to eat slowly to enable the cavity to empty.
Various operation techniques have been implemented to achieve the above, particularly horizontal and vertical banded gastroplasty, i.e. creating a small cavity (P1) from the cardia (C) (the orifice between the stomach and the oesophagus), as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, by separation then suture (S) and calibration of the orifice between small cavity (P1) and the rest of the stomach constituting the cavity (P2) by installing a band (A) made of biocompatible elastomer which is stapled to the stomach wall or simply positioned on the outside wall of the stomach, the inner diameter of which can be set by swelling.
This type of gastric band is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,288 and German patent DE 19,751,733.
On the whole this technique is satisfactory and requires only a limited degree of invasiveness (using a coelioscopy or laparotomy). Nevertheless, the band occasionally twists around on itself or is moved through tilting and a new operation may be required which is both impractical and unpleasant for the patient concerned. Research has been carried out to improve this technique.
The gastric band of the invention overcomes these drawbacks by being perfectly positioned around the orifice separating the two cavities of the stomach, without the possibility of migration, and by being easily fitted.
In order to achieve the above and according to a first aspect, the band comprises fittings that enable the band to be firmly secured to said stomach wall via sutures after distortion of the band. The diameter of the passage between the two cavities thus defined is set using suture threads that are introduced into the band and tied at each end of said band after a calibrating apparatus has been introduced via the oesophagus. The longitudinal orifice of the tube formed in the body of the band communicates with a central orifice formed from the generating line opposite the flat edge in order to introduce the non-resorbable suture threads, the rear ends of which are tied or otherwise connected to the zone around said orifice and leave by the ends of the band in order to be tied to enable said band to be fastened into position.
These aspects and others will become apparent from the following description.